


Alternate Ending

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 14:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7848445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A happier ending to Mississippi's confrontation with Mr Sandman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alternate Ending

Mississippi Jones had never felt more terrified in his life. At least with giant boulders, he could run away. But he was backed into a corner now. The rest of the vault felt too dangerous to go into now. He felt frozen, unable to do anything, while this man stood in front of him.

“Give me the horn, little man,” said Mr Sandman, holding his hand out palm-up.

“No,” said Mississippi, and swallowed heavily. “No, I-I won’t.”

“Very well then, I will just take it,” said Mr Sandman. The shadows grew spikes and began to close in, but then something happened. Mississippi brought the horn to his lips, urged on by some strange outside influence, and blew into it.

The horn emitted what sounded like a battle cry, but there was a feeling about it too. A strange magic, one that filled him with light. A light was entering the cave, too, along with the sound of hoofsteps.

He’d never seen Mr Sandman look frightened before. But now, the man was paler than usual and backing away from the newcomer in the doorway. It was a giant horse, probably the size of a Shire or even bigger, and it looked angry. It snorted, scraping its hoof along the floor.

“It has been a long time, Sangordah.” The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.

“Araxa… I thought that you were a myth,” said Mr Sandman. The horse snorted again and stepped closer.

“You should know better than anyone that not all myths are false,” said the voice. Mississippi decided that it must be coming from the horse. Which was strange, but he had seen stranger things in his line of work.

“I’d heard that you were a spider,” said Mississippi, finally finding his voice again. Both the man and the horse turned their heads to look at him.

“I am whatever I need to be,” said Araxa. “And right now, I need to be a horse riding in to rescue an adventurer in danger. A defender of the light.” There was a bright light, and a curving, spiralled horn appeared on the horse’s head.

“No, not again!” Mr Sandman cried, and tried to jump out of the way. But the horse twisted its body to intercept him. The darkness coalesced around Mr Sandman, but the horse stomped his hoof and the vault filled with light. There was not one shadow to be seen.

Mr Sandman hissed, recoiling from the light, and made for the doorway to the rest of the vault. Mississippi jumped out of the way as the horse jumped through the doorway after Mr Sandman. There was a scream and a whinny, and then nothing.

Hoofsteps preceded Araxa walking out of the room. The horse was still glowing faintly, but he didn’t look quite so imposing anymore. There was a little darkness lingering around his horn, but then his horn brightened and the darkness was gone.

“We do not have long,” said Araxa. “Can you ride? You must be able to, if I assumed this form.”

“Yes, what Jorvikian can’t?” asked Mississippi. He looked for a saddle but could find none on the horse. That would normally be okay, but the horse was simply too tall to climb on unaided.

“Ah, yes, my height. My apologies,” said Araxa. Another flash of light signalled the arrival of a small step-stool. Mississippi climbed onto it, and from there onto Araxa’s back. The pure white horse glowed, and he felt warm and happy and pure.

“You’re Aideen’s horse,” said Mississippi.

“Ah, picked up on that, did you? You are a true historian,” said Araxa.

“I’ve never seen Mr Sandman scared before,” said Mississippi. “You must have done something terrible to him in the past.”

“Ah, is that what he’s calling himself in this cycle?” asked Araxa. “He is very bad at coming up with names.”

“Cycle?” asked Mississippi.

“The druids will be able to tell you more,” said Araxa. “The horn belongs to them.”

“Everything I find seems to belong to them,” said Mississippi. “But I do enjoy the adventure.”

“We should go now,” said Araxa. “Mr Sandman may be dead, but there are other agents of Garnok sniffing around the area. Hold tight, Mississippi.”

Araxa traversed miles with each step, and leaped the mountains with the ease of a horse leaping a small log on the path. He caused quite a stir when he arrived at the druid camp, but they gave Mississippi and Araxa a little space when Araxa asked them to.

“So you are the man who has been causing us so much trouble,” said a small blue squirrel.

“Yes,” said Mississippi. “And you are Fripp. Some of the artefacts I’ve found depict you or mention you.”

“I know,” said Fripp, and giggled. “I am quite famous, you see.”

“Can you tell me about everything?” asked Mississippi. “Araxa mentioned something strange about Mr Sandman.”

“He was about to kill this man when I showed up,” said Araxa.

“That vile creature,” said Fripp, angrily swiping at his nose. “But you called Araxa and he saved you, so it is not as bad as it could have been. Nevertheless, it is time that we tell you about everything.”

Mississippi patted his pockets, looking for his diary, but couldn’t find it. He cursed silently.

“What is it?” asked Araxa.

“I dropped my diary,” said Mississippi. “Ah well, this will just have to be an adventure that isn’t documented.”

“That is for the best,” said Fripp. “We are rather a secretive organisation, so whatever we tell you cannot leave this place. Do you understand?”

“Alright,” said Mississippi. Sometimes in his adventures, he came across groups of people who took his treasures and lectured him. The Keepers, though, seemed different. And so he was almost happy to sit down with Fripp and some of the grey-robed druids and learn all about the ancient organisation and the ongoing fight against the forces of darkness.


End file.
